Peterson Churchwarden Repair

[The Mitre]

Hello repairers.

I have a lovely Peterson churchwarden with a tension crack in it. This was possibly caused by the heat from smoking releasing the tensions in the burl or, perhaps, it was exposed to the sun at some time. Anyway there's a crack!

It's a lovely pipe and needs restoring.

I'm a worker of wood so am not phased by repairing it. I'd plan to straighten the crack and insert a piece of similar veneer into the slot or make a slight "V" and slip a section of another, spare burl pipe in. But, before I do either of these, does anyone have any better ideas?

Look forward to your comments, Peter.

 

[craig61a]

Crack is probably due to smoking too hot, impact.

As for the bowl…

Can be just glued and compressed until the glue dries. If it remains stable, smoke it until it cracks again.

It’s a smoking pipe… your plan to repair the bowl would be fine if you intend just to display it. Smoking it is another story. The heat generated by smoking will eat through that join in no time. You wouldn’t repair a rip in the sidewall of a tire by cutting a section of sidewall out and gluing in a new piece of rubber…

 

[georged]

Craig is right.

No glues that adhere well to wood can withstand temps high enough to fix a crack like that.

It'll look good for a short time then just split again.

A mechanical method is the only permanent repair.

Either countersink a ring of metal in the rim (after squeezing the crack closed with a hose clamp), or cut a groove around the bowl about 1/4" below the rim and tightly twist a length of quality nickel wire into it. Finish by routing a recess for the twisted "tail" to lie flat in.

 

[MilesDavis]

I have repaired an olive stummel that had a crack like that. I wicked in superglue and clamped it tight. After refinishing, the crack is still seen as a black line. That pipe isn't in my regular smoking rotation, so I don't know whether steady use will reopen the crack.

 

[craig61a]

Craig is right.

No glues that adhere well to wood can withstand temps high enough to fix a crack like that.

It'll look good for a short time then just split again.

A mechanical method is the only permanent repair.

Either countersink a ring of metal in the rim (after squeezing the crack closed with a hose clamp), or cut a groove around the bowl about 1/4" below the rim and tightly twist a length of quality nickel wire into it. Finish by routing a recess for the twisted "tail" to lie flat in.

An interesting side note... The British wire wrapped forestocks of Enfield No. 4 rifles intended for use with rifle grenades to keep them from splitting.

Another interesting method of repair for splits on rifle stocks back the day was running threaded brass stock through the wood on either side of the split, not all the way through, but far enough in to engage the pieces on each side of the split.

 

[The Mitre]

Well, we've had a go at it! Following some of the advice I've stitched this little fellow back together, see the images. When I come to list it on eBay I will mention it has been repaired and suggest it's a collectors piece not a smoker.

Thanks for you help, no doubt I'll have more interesting projects to come!

 

[mikethompson]

Interesting fix. I'm curious to see how it holds up.

 

[MilesDavis]

That looks fine! I found that old olive I had repaired. It's been smoked some, but wasn't a part of my rotation. On the inside, cake now covers the cracks. The outside, although showing evidence of its failure, has held up. I think olive stummels might be more likely to fail than briar. Anyway, good job!